News Reporter

The parents of a woman killed in a skydive tragedy have paid tribute to their much-loved daughter.

Pamela Gower - who described herself as a "crazy trainee skydiver" on her Facebook page - died on Saturday.

The 49-year-old, from Hebburn, hit a parked car in Weldon Close, in Shotton Colliery, near to the airfield where her aircraft had earlier taken off.

Her parents, Catherine and Len, said on behalf of the family: "Pamela was a great girl who was loved by her family so much and was a wonderful daughter and sister.

"Pamela was a very determined and independent woman who let nothing get in her way and we feel this photograph of her next to the Taj Mahal is a perfect example of this.

"Our mam always told Pamela how proud she was of her, as was the rest of our family. We will remember how she always saw the funny side of things, just like her ‘Da’.

"She often asked her ‘Da’ who was his favourite, and he used to say ‘you were the best of a bad bunch!’ as there were five children. She will be a huge miss as she was loved by everybody.

"It was lovely to hear the warm messages from everyone and we would like to thank people for sending us their kind words.

"We would also like to thank all those who were involved in trying to help Pamela, from the nurse and the ex-soldier who were first on the scene to the various agencies who tried to save Pamela, including the police, ambulance service, paramedics and the hospital.

"As a family we are devastated at this very difficult time and would appreciate privacy to grieve in peace."

Police had previously said that Pamela died after her parachute failed to open.

But Durham Constabulary said, while the circumstances regarding the incident will form part of a joint investigation between the police and the British Parachute Association on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority, it had now established that the reserve parachute did deploy.